Heroes of England's thumping 10-wicket triumph against India in the second Test, skipper Alastair Cook and aggressive batsman Kevin Pietersen on Monday said the team will have to guard against complacency in the remaining two matches.

Heroes of England‘s thumping 10-wicket triumph against India in the second Test, skipper Alastair Cook and aggressive batsman Kevin Pietersen on Monday said the team will have to guard against complacency in the remaining two matches.

“Any win in India is a huge win. I played 18 one day games and won one game. I have won more Test matches than one day games in India. Any Test victory or any victory in India is huge,” said Pietersen whose record 206-run partnership with Cook (122) provided the platform for the massive win.

“But we are not going to get ahead of us, that is for sure. Last week we got hammered and this week we turned it around,” he added.

Cook also said the team would not get carried away.

“We have set the series out really well. We have got two games to go now and it is level. It is a really good performance. Like Kev said, we are not getting too carried away. We are going to enjoy tonight,” he said.

“Enjoy the victory and we need to, we have got a lot of back to back test matches in India, so we need to rest up well. And make sure when we get to Kolkata, we train with same purpose and intense to win game there,” he added.

Cook, who notched up his second century in the series on the trot and is level on 22 career hundreds with Pietersen and three other former greats, lavished praise on his partner.

“It has been an incredible turnaround from the lads. The character we showed from last week’s heavy defeat (in the series opener at Ahmedabad),” Cook said.

“We didn’t let our heads drop down. We went back and had game here. Worked as hard as we did in the nets, and that belief and form which I said we needed to do into the game,” added the player whose birthday falls on Christmas Day.

Endorsing his captain’s view, Pietersen said the important thing was his team’s batsmen could transfer the way they batted in the nets into the actual game.

“As Cookie said we practised hard. But the important thing is not scoring the runs in the net but scoring the runs in the middle. Quite a few of our guys were able to do that. I thought that our spinners were exceptional in this match.

“Chef (Cook) hasn’t spoken about himself yet but he is 27. Has got 22 Test hundreds, there is no reason why he shouldn’t get 35-40 Test hundreds in his incredible test career. It’s special to be part of this team. The dressing room is certainly united. It’s fun. We are having a great time in this tour,” Pietersen declared.

Cook felt his team’s spin twins had read the wicket very well.

“I think it is the job of the spinner to work out the wicket. I thought Monty and Swanny did that. It was fantastic.

The way they bowled and yesterday afternoon was fantastic. It is always hard when you have got to perform.”

“You are the guys who have to take the wickets. They stood out and fronted up to take that challenge and took the wickets. Full credit to them,” Cook said.

The England skipper said he was confident his side will take the confidence earned here into the Kolkata Test commencing on December 5.

“It’s been a brilliant full three days. We can take a lot of confidence from these three days. When we get to Kolkata, whatever the conditions, the side should adapt well to those conditions,” he said.

“When they get their noses ahead, they are going to keep their noses ahead. That is what India did in Ahmedabad, and that is what we did.”

Cook said his team had done very well in the Indian first innings too but for the century stand between Cheteshwar Pujara, who made 135, and R Ashwin (68) that pulled India out of the rut from 169 for 6.

“The first day, they were seven down (six down), I think. It was a really good day. We fought really hard and Ashwin and Pujara, if they hadn’t put the partnership, it would have been a far better day for us.

First Published on November 26, 2012 1:51 PM ISTLast updated on November 26, 2012 1:51 PM IST